News & Events

For most of his 57 years, Marlon Bowe’s life was defined by a cycle of addiction, poverty, violence and prison sentences. He’s cheated death more than once and has the scars to prove it. “I’ve been stabbed about seven times and shot twice,” he says. “I shouldn’t even be alive but here I am, still […]

As a lifelong voice coach, choir director and mother of a special needs child, Anne-Marie Brimacombe learned all about the therapeutic potential of music a long time ago. These days  she’s using that knowledge to help Our Place family members discover the healing power of song. Two years ago, Anne-Marie and her husband Peter launched […]

As a young boy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Carlos’s first job was to wrap chicken eggs in newspaper for his mother. “I would take forever,” he admits. “Because I read all the newspapers first.” But it was in these stories that he first became fascinated with Canada. “I read stories about Greenpeace and blue berets […]

At 70 years old, Greg is a golden ray of sunshine every time he sits down at Our Place to begin his volunteer shift. Compassionate, eager and always ready to roll up his sleeves or slip on a hairnet, Greg has been helping out around Our Place for the last nine years. Volunteering is in […]

“I’ve got a giant hole in my heart — not being in contact with my kids, not being in touch with my family, my sister. . . .” — Robert Stewart When men lose control of their lives, there is a tendency to hide away. Whether that’s shame, embarrassment or just a heaviness that makes […]

Joining the workforce after a long absence can be a struggle at best, but when you also suffer from multiple barriers such as homelessness, brain injury or addiction, the hurdles can seem unsurmountable. A new program at Our Place called Next Steps to Employment wants to change that. “We’ve just begun our second intake,” says […]

Can love change a person? Can it make you look in the mirror and instead of seeing your own troubled past reflected back, see the person you wish to become? Dan and Brandy like to believe so. “My dad took me on my first B&E (break and enter) when I was 10 years old,” says […]

It was only after his own personal experience with therapy that Craig Extine realized he wanted something different for his life. He wanted to help others. As the drop-in mental health counsellor who volunteers with Our Place every Monday, Craig now helps the family members with many of their issues: addiction, anxiety, grief and trauma. […]

“After 30 years together, we were living apart, and not by choice.” When you’ve been married for 32 years, the idea of living apart seems unfathomable. And when those decades have been as turbulent as Greg and Tracy’s life has been, your partner becomes your rock, your only anchor in the storm. Greg and Tracy […]